Everybody loves misdirection. It makes magic shows and movies interesting. You think you know what happens next, then WHAM! the unexpected happens. Now you’re plugged in.

Trump gave a head fake. Everybody bought it. (Including me.) Then his legs went the other way, and we stand here flailing at the air. Some people’s heads exploded on CNN. BOOM! I’ll reveal the real misdirection in a moment. You’ll love it.

After declaring “I don’t want to change” and hiring Stephen K. Bannon, the honey badger, as campaign CEO, Trump gave two perfectly Jack Kempian speeches in a row. He expressed “regrets” for causing people pain with his words. He asked for the black vote over and over again, promising to undo the horrific damage done to blacks by 60 years of Democratic demagogueries. He sounds like Jack Kemp.

Leadership vs. Leisure

On top of that, Trump shamed and humiliated Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton by going to Louisianna and helping hand out relief supplies to flood victims. While Obama golfs and Hillary rests, Trump leads. He looks like a serial winner and a humble servant while his rival gets her toenails painted by her servants.

Think about this: who looks like they have the stamina? The golfer? The convalescent? or The Donald?

Trump’s 3rd Act

I’ve been telling you about Scott Adams’s theory that Trump’s running this campaign like a movie. The hero, Trump, dug himself a hole that no one believed he could escape. From Scott Adams’ Blog:

This is the so-called 3rd act that I have been predicting for about a year. In movie terms, this is the point where the protagonist encounters a problem that can’t be solved unless he changes something about himself. In a typical movie script, the hero might need to conquer a specific fear, open his heart to love again, or become more open-minded – that sort of change. In our movie, Trump needed to display more human empathy to appear less scary to the public. He has been doing that in speeches and statements all week, but the “regret” speech capped it.

And here he is, clawing his way out of that hole like Indiana Jones.

Channeling Jack Kemp

Regular readers know that I love Jack Kemp. I campaigned for Kemp for President in South Carolina in 1987 and 1988. I have an autographed Jack Kemp trading card, a gift from a friend. How history might have changed had Kemp won the nomination in 1988 and continued the Reagan Revolution.

If you think about it, Trump’s hair kind of reminds you of Kemp’s, doesn’t it? But there’s more. Much more. It’s the real misdirection, and it happened when Trump announced Stephen K. Bannon as his CEO.

Along with Bannon came pollster Kellyanne Conway. One of Conway’s first (and favorite) clients was … Jack Kemp. Bannon will do a great job as CEO, but Conway was the secret weapon. Bannon’s hiring made everybody think Trump was going to double down on mean and nasty. We all treated Conway as an afterthought, except to note that she’s the first female campaign manager for a Republican presidential candidate.

Conway: Great Get

Conway wasn’t an afterthought: she’s at least as important as Bannon’s entrance and Manafort’s exit.

But Kemp managed to get himself elected to Congress from a blue-collar, union, Democrat district near Buffalo, New York. Like Trump, Kemp appealed to Reagan Democrats. And he never let them down.

When you look at Trump’s history of knocking down religion, sex, and race barriers in hiring and promotions, you can see that Trump and Kemp share a lot of the same values. Until this week, Trump seemed to have trouble expressing those values, but Conway has opened that door.